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I created a sales page for my ebook, how should I go about getting sales without a email list?

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

JahvonCreamCone

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Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well.

I'm a total beginner here. I just finished creating a long form sales page for my book, which is now ready to be sold.

I know my niche, I know who my customers are, and I know where to find them.

The only problem is, my book is $100+, which isn't too outstanding considering my niche, and the amount of content I've put into it.

But I don't currently have an email list, and from what I've read online, sending cold traffic to my sales page isn't a great idea.

For financial reasons, I really need to make 10 sales by July 5th, and I really believe If I hustle I can do it.

If anybody has any advice on how I should go about selling my book in such a short time period, I would love to hear it

Thanks in advance guys :).
 
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blackbrich

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Need 10 sales by July 5th...
Try PPC advertising.

PPC Courses on Udemy - Online Courses - Anytime, Anywhere | Udemy
Email Marketing Course on Udemy - Learn Email Marketing A-Z Using MailCheat(Chimp) - Udemy

No money for PPC advertising? Sell offline or spam the interwebs and hope for a .001% conversion ≈ 1 sale per every 100000
Blackhat SEO - Just search google
blackhat seo course - Google Search

Honestly the chances seem low regardless of what you do. If you really want to hustle try offline.
 

JahvonCreamCone

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Need 10 sales by July 5th...
Try PPC advertising.

PPC Courses on Udemy - Online Courses - Anytime, Anywhere | Udemy
Email Marketing Course on Udemy - Learn Email Marketing A-Z Using MailCheat(Chimp) - Udemy

No money for PPC advertising? Sell offline or spam the interwebs and hope for a .001% conversion ≈ 1 sale per every 100000
Blackhat SEO - Just search google
blackhat seo course - Google Search

Honestly the chances seem low regardless of what you do. If you really want to hustle try offline.
Thanks for the advice man, i'm gonna check out PPC advertising right now.
 
G

GuestUser450

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Your price point makes it a good fit for affiliates. Offer a healthy commission - you need the list more than the margin in the beginning.

Maybe give them a version of the preface or an executive summary or a bonus pdf with actionable information they can use today. Asking for $100 without giving at least that much in value to pique their interest is usually too big of a leap - you have to build up to it.

I'd also test a video interview vs. the long form copy and really build the story.
 
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ZeroTo100

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Thanks for the advice man, i'm gonna check out PPC advertising right now.

Hey Bro, would love to help a fellow Queens cat out.

My last startup I launched in beta and did 1400 email signups about a month before we launched and sold out of beta on day 3. I think my method will work with a book launch but you can't rush these things. Remember, jab, jab, jab...right hook! You put a ton of time into this, why blow it?

You 100% should launch with a list. Truthfully, you should have been building the list as you were writing the book. The whole process of writing a book involves marketing it before it's written (at least in my opinion). You can do paid ads and all that but I would suggest sending those paid ads to your optin and not directly to your sales page. Their email is valuable, especially if they are opting in to eventually buy your book. If you get no optins, that just means A) your copy sucks B) maybe your price sucks C) maybe they just don't want what you're selling.

Which leads me to if you are selling your book for $100 bucks and you're trying to collect emails to launch it? Don't you think it would be smart to provide an incentive to your target to signup? You probably want it to sell as well after it's launched, no? I def think you should give a few free books away to members who optin on your list. Ask for a nice review also.

I don't really know your market so I can't really craft my method into it but I would suggest finding the fastest way to reach your target customer if you know where they hang out. Engage with them, connect with them, follow them, like their pics, and show them love! They will eventually return the favor.
 

ZeroTo100

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Hey Bro, would love to help a fellow Queens cat out.

My last startup I launched in beta and did 1400 email signups about a month before we launched and sold out of beta on day 3. I think my method will work with a book launch but you can't rush these things. Remember, jab, jab, jab...right hook! You put a ton of time into this, why blow it?

You 100% should launch with a list. Truthfully, you should have been building the list as you were writing the book. The whole process of writing a book involves marketing it before it's written (at least in my opinion). You can do paid ads and all that but I would suggest sending those paid ads to your optin and not directly to your sales page. Their email is valuable, especially if they are opting in to eventually buy your book. If you get no optins, that just means A) your copy sucks B) maybe your price sucks C) maybe they just don't want what you're selling.

Which leads me to if you are selling your book for $100 bucks and you're trying to collect emails to launch it? Don't you think it would be smart to provide an incentive to your target to signup? You probably want it to sell as well after it's launched, no? I def think you should give a few free books away to members who optin on your list. Ask for a nice review also.

I don't really know your market so I can't really craft my method into it but I would suggest finding the fastest way to reach your target customer if you know where they hang out. Engage with them, connect with them, follow them, like their pics, and show them love! They will eventually return the favor.

Also, I agree with @TeveTorbes about going after affiliates.
 

Invictus

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ZeroTo100 makes a good point.

If your sales page is the only thing that is convincing your customers, it better be a damn good sales page. In Direct Mail Marketing, 2-3% conversion rates are considered good (that said, these lists are mass mailed so not ideally targetted).

I worked with a Kickstarter campaign that did pretty well. They built up a good list, solid social media following, etc. They hit their sales goal in three hours.

But, their ads to the sales page weren't converting as well as they planned. Facebook ads were doing good to get visitors to the sales page*, but weren't getting many purchases.

Now, there could have been a number of reasons for this. But, their list, which had been built and warmed, had no issues with opening their wallets.

If you really need those ten sales, you could go for ads and direct outreach. But you may be better off preparing a big launch.
 
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huntiii

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Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well.

I'm a total beginner here. I just finished creating a long form sales page for my book, which is now ready to be sold.

I know my niche, I know who my customers are, and I know where to find them.

The only problem is, my book is $100+, which isn't too outstanding considering my niche, and the amount of content I've put into it.

But I don't currently have an email list, and from what I've read online, sending cold traffic to my sales page isn't a great idea.

For financial reasons, I really need to make 10 sales by July 5th, and I really believe If I hustle I can do it.

If anybody has any advice on how I should go about selling my book in such a short time period, I would love to hear it

Thanks in advance guys :).
1) Look for the big bloggers, influencers, facebook pages etc in your niche. Tell them about your book. Offer them a big cut.

2) create a Meetup group in your city and give a free talk on your topic. Or do it at a library etc...
 

Greg R

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Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well.

I'm a total beginner here. I just finished creating a long form sales page for my book, which is now ready to be sold.

I know my niche, I know who my customers are, and I know where to find them.

The only problem is, my book is $100+, which isn't too outstanding considering my niche, and the amount of content I've put into it.

But I don't currently have an email list, and from what I've read online, sending cold traffic to my sales page isn't a great idea.

For financial reasons, I really need to make 10 sales by July 5th, and I really believe If I hustle I can do it.

If anybody has any advice on how I should go about selling my book in such a short time period, I would love to hear it

Thanks in advance guys :).

... Not sure why no one in hear said "create a better product." OR read @ChickenHawk 's thread. I guess that would take some effort. :/
 

huntiii

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... Not sure why no one in hear said "create a better product." OR read @ChickenHawk 's thread. I guess that would take some effort. :/
I didn't say that because one, he needs to make 10 sales by July 5. And two, I haven't read his book. It may be the greatest book of all time but if no one knows about it between now and july 5, it aint gong to sell.
 

ChickenHawk

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Not sure why no one in hear said "create a better product." OR read @ChickenHawk 's thread. I guess that would take some effort. :/

Now I feel almost bad. I read your post yesterday, and thought, "Wow, this is such a different niche than mine." I didn't feel like I had a lot of insight to offer on the path you were pursuing, because it seemed you'd get more relevant advice from the forum's personal-training or ecommerce gurus.

Your goal: Sell a high-dollar item to a specialized group. You make your money on price.
My goal: Sell a low-dollar item to a wide group. I make my money on volume.

For what it's worth, I think there's room for both approaches. I actually HAVE bought a book priced over $100 before. But that's because I was starting a coffee business, and it offered a step-by-step process for opening a coffee shop. This was also before the golden age of ebooks. I'm not sure I'd spend $100 today, because information these days is more affordable and readily available.

I don't know what your book niche is, but my own personal preference is to go the volume route. All that being said, I'll be interested to hear what steps you take, and how it works out, so I hope you'll keep us posted. Good luck!
 

Greg R

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I actually HAVE bought a book priced over $100 before.

*Proverbial bow to @ChickenHawk... much respect and gratitude*

I've definitely bought $100+ books before without a second thought. School, certifications, access to market data, etc.

Maybe the fastest route would be to get on the phone and start knocking on doors. Especially if you "know" who your customers are and "need" to sell five books in a little more than a week.
 
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JahvonCreamCone

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Wow, thank you guys for all the feedback. It's really been helping me to brain storm what I should do.

I made a post on reddit offering my book for free, for 2 hours and got over 100 downloads along with their emails. I'm considering emailing each of the opt ins with a personal thank you email, that'll end by asking them to share the word of the book if they find value in it.


@ChickenHawk thank you for sharing your insight my man, with all your experience I appreciate you sharing what you know. I've decided to test selling the book for volume around the $20-$30 range, instead of $100+. Given the price drop, would you have any advice on what I could do from here? My niche is the relationship/dating branch of self help.

Thanks in advance =)
 

JahvonCreamCone

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Your price point makes it a good fit for affiliates. Offer a healthy commission - you need the list more than the margin in the beginning.

Maybe give them a version of the preface or an executive summary or a bonus pdf with actionable information they can use today. Asking for $100 without giving at least that much in value to pique their interest is usually too big of a leap - you have to build up to it.

I'd also test a video interview vs. the long form copy and really build the story.
Thats a great idea thank you.
 

ChickenHawk

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@ChickenHawk thank you for sharing your insight my man, with all your experience I appreciate you sharing what you know. I've decided to test selling the book for volume around the $20-$30 range, instead of $100+. Given the price drop, would you have any advice on what I could do from here? My niche is the relationship/dating branch of self help.

You're so welcome! About advice, I'm not sure any of my experience would be terribly helpful, given your preferred route. My books sell for $3.99 or less, and all of my current ebook sales occur on Amazon. If you decide to pursue the Amazon route, you'd likely be in for an uphill battle, because even at your lower price, your book will likely cost several times higher than the average in the dating niche. (I just did a very quick check on Amazon, and it appears that ebooks in the dating niche run in the $2.99 to $9.99 range.)

Some questions to consider:
  • What would be easier: To sell 100 books for $2.99? Or to sell 10 books for $29.99 each? For me, it's definitely the $2.99 route. But then again, I write romance books, which tend to be disposable compared to non-fiction or "how-to" books.
  • What would be easier: To sell something from your own Website, where people don't yet know you? Or to sell something on Amazon, which already has earned the trust of your potential customers? (Of course, if you sell on Amazon, you give up a frustrating amount of control, and you also split the commission. But in my case, it's totally worth it, because the tiny slice of the Amazon pie is much larger than any pie I could create by selling on my own Web site.)
  • What would be easier: To upload your book once and let Amazon handle the fulfillment? Or to sell it on your own Website and deal with all of those technical & credit-card issues as they come up?
Now, I know that easier isn't always better, but in my case, it's the best fit. It allows me to sell the same $3.99 book thousands of times over, with very little hand-holding on my part. It seems that your niche is totally different, where you're selling something more complex to a specialized, target audience. And in your case, this might be the perfect approach.

I wish I could offer more insight, but I'm rooting for you!
 
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I have an idea.

I used to be a member of a number of Facebook groups (two years ago) and I've seen people do something similar to what you are trying to accomplish but leveraging the Kindle publishing platform instead.

This MAY be a long shot but try kindle marketing. You could embed your sales copy on the description and do the following:

Set your ebook for free for the first 48 hours (sign up for Kindle unlimited because Kindle promotes you through this program as long as your ebook is for free) and then set price to something cheap for now.

Buy/create reviews (realistic looking) to bump your sales rank to the top in your category. I need to warn you, you have to be very careful here so your account doesn't get flagged. Amazon will naturally market and promote this for you once your sales rank is high enough. You will show up on recommendations and search engines. Then you could increase the price to something reasonable.

It may not be "hustling" but rather more of a long term approach. Sustainable? No. You have to remember that there will always be competition on Kindle. The golden days of ebooks are over.
 

SvvyDO

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You're so welcome! About advice, I'm not sure any of my experience would be terribly helpful, given your preferred route. My books sell for $3.99 or less, and all of my current ebook sales occur on Amazon. If you decide to pursue the Amazon route, you'd likely be in for an uphill battle, because even at your lower price, your book will likely cost several times higher than the average in the dating niche. (I just did a very quick check on Amazon, and it appears that ebooks in the dating niche run in the $2.99 to $9.99 range.)

Some questions to consider:
  • What would be easier: To sell 100 books for $2.99? Or to sell 10 books for $29.99 each? For me, it's definitely the $2.99 route. But then again, I write romance books, which tend to be disposable compared to non-fiction or "how-to" books.
  • What would be easier: To sell something from your own Website, where people don't yet know you? Or to sell something on Amazon, which already has earned the trust of your potential customers? (Of course, if you sell on Amazon, you give up a frustrating amount of control, and you also split the commission. But in my case, it's totally worth it, because the tiny slice of the Amazon pie is much larger than any pie I could create by selling on my own Web site.)
  • What would be easier: To upload your book once and let Amazon handle the fulfillment? Or to sell it on your own Website and deal with all of those technical & credit-card issues as they come up?
Now, I know that easier isn't always better, but in my case, it's the best fit. It allows me to sell the same $3.99 book thousands of times over, with very little hand-holding on my part. It seems that your niche is totally different, where you're selling something more complex to a specialized, target audience. And in your case, this might be the perfect approach.

I wish I could offer more insight, but I'm rooting for you!

This is very interesting because I'm actually about 85-90% done on my book as well. I opted to create my own website rather than amazon but amazon is still plan B. Out of curiousity, how much of the profits do you split with amazon?

I've actually done a bit of market research on amazon before jumping the gun as well, and I'm pretty confident I could dominate the market.. The only problem is that amazon only has a very small market for this product. Although more work, I'm more confident that I could get better traffic from facebook + googleadwords :/

+Also, I gotta say. I just found out about your thread and it's quite inspiring :) It's incredible how you could pump out so much content for your book with your time restraints and your other responsibilities.
 
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ChickenHawk

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Out of curiousity, how much of the profits do you split with amazon?
Generally speaking, the split is 70/30 (70% for you, 30% for Amazon) if your book is priced within their preferred price range of $2.99 to $9.99. If your book is priced outside this range, I believe you'd only get something like 35%.

My books are also within Kindle Unlimited, which means that I get paid approximately .45 cents for every page read by a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. These are considered borrows, not sales.

The only problem is that amazon only has a very small market for this product. Although more work, I'm more confident that I could get better traffic from facebook + googleadwords :/
You could also consider a hybrid approach, where you sell your book on Amazon, and advertise on Facebook. When I have a new book out, I do Facebook advertising and link to my book's Amazon product page.

Good luck whichever route you go!
 
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SvvyDO

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Generally speaking, the split is 70/30 (70% for you, 30% for Amazon) if your book is priced within their preferred price range of $2.99 to $9.99. If your book is priced outside this range, I believe you'd only get something like 35%.

My books are also within Kindle Unlimited, which means that I get paid approximately .45 cents for every page read by a Kindle Unlimited subscriber. These are considered borrows, not sales.


You could also consider a hybrid approach, where you sell your book on Amazon, and advertise on Facebook. When I have a new book out, I do Facebook advertising and link to my book's Amazon product page.

Good luck whichever route you go!

Awesome, thanks! The hybrid approach sounds like a great idea. I was actually thinking of it in the past.

I guess the only thing that was stopping me was the price point. The price that I'd like to sell it is higher than that on amazon, and if I'd sell on amazon I think I'd have to drop the price down to be competitive with the market... But then again, if the price to be competitive w/ on amazon nets a higher revenue It'd be worth it to do.

I guess because I haven't found an optimal price for it yet, it's too early to tell. But it's definitely an option once this product is out in the market.
(apologies if that's hard to make sense of, my brain is kind of friend right now D:)
 

huntiii

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Awesome, thanks! The hybrid approach sounds like a great idea. I was actually thinking of it in the past.

I guess the only thing that was stopping me was the price point. The price that I'd like to sell it is higher than that on amazon, and if I'd sell on amazon I think I'd have to drop the price down to be competitive with the market... But then again, if the price to be competitive w/ on amazon nets a higher revenue It'd be worth it to do.

I guess because I haven't found an optimal price for it yet, it's too early to tell. But it's definitely an option once this product is out in the market.
(apologies if that's hard to make sense of, my brain is kind of friend right now D:)


You could turn a chapter or two or three into a shorter and cheaper kindle book less than 90 pages and then sell the bigger book from the pages of your smaller kindle book. If your content is fantastic, your short kindle book could consistently rank for its category which would mean a constant stream of paid leads for your larger book.
 

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